The Woodcutter's Cottage
by By Another Name
Summary: Round Three of the Teacher's Lounge Iron Fic Challenge. The prompt was "Coming Home". Luna Lovegood hasn't quite settled into her life since the war ended, but a chance meeting in a place she *thought* she's known all her life could change everything.


_Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns._

She ran down the wooded path, getting away from **them.**

 _They mean well_ , she kept telling herself, although the facts suggested otherwise. They were constantly after her, getting into her space, telling her she was doing everything wrong. They didn't like her job, and they couldn't leave her love life alone. She told them she was content without anyone right then. She really preferred it that way; she's had a terrible time trying to be in love. They thought she just needed to meet the right wizard. They introduced her to many, and a few witches besides, just in case. None of them were right for her, betraying the fact that her friends probably didn't know her very well.

Her shoes and socks flew from her feet as she ran. **They** were all probably still standing in her kitchen where she left them, or perhaps they followed her. She stopped and realized she'd probably left a trail. _"Accio shoes! Accio socks!"_ Placing the items in her basket, she looked around. It was time to leave the main path and stop running. There was a line of spirea bushes to the side. She followed the path they formed, letting her free hand trail over the bright flowers.

The woodcutter's cottage was always a favorite hiding place. There was romance or enchantment or perhaps plain good building about it. She'd come here from time to time since she was a small child, but it never showed any decay. She would go rest in the calmness of the house, but first she would pick some of the strawberries that grew along the side.

She ate a few and put a few into the basket, carefully placing them in a different section than the shoes and socks. She enjoyed the feeling of the earth under her feet and the sunshine filtering through the treetops. Her irritation with her friends, who really did mean well, started to dissipate, and she leaned back up, sighing in contentment.

Her eyes went wide when she saw him.

"Good afternoon."

His voice was quiet and gentle, but deep enough to make her feel—she wasn't sure how it made her feel. She was too busy being embarrassed and flustered. He looked very much like someone she's seen before, except that person always seemed so old and used up, while this man smiled with a warmth that suggested vitality.

"I see you've sampled my strawberries."

Holding the basket in both hands, she looked from it to him. It never occurred to her that the cottage or the strawberries belonged to anyone. Perhaps he was angry. She stepped forward to put it down in front of him and backed away. His smile—such a nice smile—became warmer. She stepped on a sharp twig and remembered where her shoes were. Turning red, because perhaps he wouldn't like his berries in the same basket as her shoes even with a divider, she quickly came back to the basket and removed the shoes and socks. She backed away again until she reached the tree line, where she quickly turned and slipped into the woods.

A little curious, she didn't follow the path but rather crossed through some trees to find a hiding spot. He was holding the basket and talking to an owl in the oak tree near the front door. "It doesn't look as though she's coming back," he said. "I don't suppose I scared her, because she didn't Apparate away on the sight of me. No, Browning, I don't think she was some sort of wood sprite, either. I've seen her before. When, you ask? Oh it was another life. Now I can think of it as just a bad dream, but at the time it was all too real." He turned slowly and went into the house.

She supposed she might as well face the music at home, but no one was there. They left a note. _We tidied up a bit,_ it says. She sighed in annoyance at the intrusion just as the clock chimed. It was time to fix dinner. Turning around in the kitchen slowly, she wondered where they put the food cauldron. Dad would be home soon, and he would be hungry.

* * *

She stayed close to home for the next two weeks. She was terribly curious about the wizard in the woodcutter's cottage, but she feared she'd made a bad impression and didn't want to annoy him. One afternoon after type setting and copy editing, her father all but pushed her out of the house. "You're getting too pale and your eyes are starting to bug out. Get some sun and fresh air, girl."

She was irresistibly drawn down the line of spirea, again. Then she saw the Blibbering Humdinger and had to follow it. It moved back and forth, quicker and slower, and sometimes she skipped as she followed it. A smile grew on her face. She was back in her own world and she loved it.

"Do you mind if I cut in?"

"Oh. Um..."

The wizard had his hand on hers and moved into position opposite her. The Humdinger, fickle creature, was gone. He didn't get too close. He simply took her other hand and gently led her into a waltz of sorts. "I've been hoping you would come back."

"I—"

"I don't like company, but something tells me I wouldn't mind yours. I hate people who are constantly in one's space."

He understood. She sucked in her breath and looked at him. He was being sincere.

"I thought I was the only one. They mean well, but," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "they never go away."

"Do you want them to go away?"

"Not entirely, but they keep trying to make me fall in love. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Neville and Hannah… I haven't found the person who makes me feel like they do. And to be perfectly honest," she bit her lip.

"We haven't lied to each other yet. It would be a shame to start now." Were his eyes twinkling with amusement?

"Well, it's just that I don't want to be in love the way they are. It all seems so pedestrian."

"I quite agree."

She looked in his eyes and found sincerity. She sucked in her breath again. _He understood._

She didn't want to go too far down this line of conversation. "I must have looked ridiculous, dancing around in your front garden."

"I was actually listening to the wireless, and when I saw you, it was irresistible."

She realized that there was music coming from an open window. "Oh."

"Suppose you come inside and have tea with me."

"Dad will be looking for me."

"Browning will take your note if you like. You can tell him you're having tea with a friend."

"Are we friends?"

"Aren't we?"

"I don't even know—I'm not sure I know who you are."

He let go of her hands and bowed, "Rolf Scamander, and you are Luna Lovegood."

* * *

One tea became several, and before too long, she had explained why her friends made her so uncomfortable. "They want me to have a 'real' job, as they call it."

"They don't approve of your work with the zoo in Scotland?"

"It's only two days. They want me to have a career."

"I'm sure the zoo would take you for a full work week."

"I have to help Dad with the paper. Besides, I'm not sure I'd like it so well if I had to be there always."

"That makes perfect sense."

She couldn't get over how well he understood. She learned quite a bit about him, too. His grandfather was letting him carry on the expeditions and even letting him do some of the writing in the new editions of his book. "I've always wanted to be able to go out and see everything there is in the world, and now I can. The war was so confining."

She nodded her head. "I'd love to go with you, sometime."

"I'd like that, too." He sat back and looked at her. "You've never said what went wrong with Longbottom."

"I'm not sure how to explain it." She sighed.

"I'm sorry; to curious."

"No." She shook her head. "It's fair to ask, and I suppose I should try to figure it out."

"Everyone thought you were destined to be a couple."

"Everyone is stupid," she said in a fit of annoyance.

"Of course they are."

"They think I'm an idiot, because of how I act."

"They're the idiots."

"They thought that because Neville was a little slow to find his way and because I'm the way I am..."

"That's a pretty flimsy basis for a relationship of any kind, especially a romance."

"Exactly, and he's got those big hands and lips and they were bigger and sloppy when they came after… well, you know."

"I'm not sure I know, Luna. Did he hurt you?" His face was kind, but his voice had a hard edge.

She shook her head, "No, he would never push too far, but I had to tell him I didn't want to do those things."

"I see."

"I'm not sure I'm meant to be with anyone. I've never really liked it when boys touch me in the least."

"Luna, we're sitting very close on this couch right now, and our hands are clasped. Have you never noticed?

She glanced down at her hand and realized that his was there, too, where it had been for weeks, now.

* * *

Rolf had to study a new form of penguin found in Antarctica that was capable of flight. He was gone for a month. She was glad he got to go, but she found that her days were very long while he was away. Hannah was particularly difficult at one point, insisting that she go out with Dean Thomas. Dean had been a friend while they were imprisoned at Malfoy Manor, and had asked about dating after the war, but she just wasn't interested.

She went this time, because Hannah always seemed to suggest that Luna secretly wanted Neville. It was also the chance to try an experiment. When Dean sat on the same side of the booth at the restaurant, Luna slipped her hand within his. Within ten minutes, she had got to the point where she was going to scream if it went on. Dean's hand didn't understand her as a person, and it was just _wrong_. Rolf's hand had been perfect, which is why she probably had never noticed until he mentioned it.

She arrived at the zoo in Scotland one morning to find a cage addressed to her. "It's a mating pair," said Rolf softly behind her shoulder. She jumped up to hug him.

He smiled down at her. "Did you miss me?"

They sat and spoke long into the night that night. She had so many things to tell him, about how Dad's press had needed a simple repair and she had known how to do it and about how she'd helped to deliver some animal babies in the zoo.

He told her about the southern sky and the stars, and the Australia Borealis. "One night there was a blue just like your eyes," he said. "It made me feel as though you were there but it also made me miss home."

He saw many types of penguins, and was amazed at his first sight of the flying ones. "That's of course not a magical ability, but there's something uncanny about them. I hope you'll help me by studying the two in Scotland."

"Of course."

He got up and stretched. "It's too late for you to go home right now. I noticed that the house has done something in my absence." He led her to a door near the kitchen that had never been there before.

"What is it?"

"Why don't you see?"

It was a bedroom. It was _her_ bedroom. The walls were plain white, but there was a work table with paints and sketch pads. "Did you do this?"

"No, the house did."

* * *

Dad either didn't notice or care that she was spending so much time with Rolf. Her room filled with beautiful things, much of her free time was spent trying to please Rolf, finding new things to eat or place around the cottage.

Things came to a head when Harry knocked on Rolf's door.

"It's time to come home, Luna."

"No."

"Look, we knew you were displaced by the war, that many people were, but it's time for you to take the place that belongs to you."

"I belong here."

Harry sighed. "If it comes to that, Luna, we're going to have to place you in a facility—"

"Remove your hand, Potter."

"Did I hear your name is Scamander? She has friends, you know. We won't let people take advantage of her."

"He's not. Harry, I want to be here." Luna pulled away from Harry but then placed her hand on his arm. "Please, I'm not some child you have to take care of. Just let it be."

"I'll leave now, but it has to stop, Luna." Looking from one to the other, Harry walked away, Apparating just beyond the tree line.

"I'm sorry," Luna whispered. Something was violated, now, and she didn't know how to fix it.

"Luna, he's right about one thing: It has to stop."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't visit me anymore or live here… it's just not right, and I've been selfish to allow it."

"I've finally found my place, and you're taking it away from me!"

"Do you mean that? There is one way this can continue."

"What do we do?"

"We get married."

She sucked in her breath. "I don't think I'd be good at love. I told you."

"You aren't good at their kind of love, and you said you don't want that anyway. Let's do this our way. We both have so much affection for each other." She could see how much this meant in his eyes. "Say yes."

The world shifted ever so slightly and then settled into place. She suddenly understood certain feelings, and _wants._ It was right. "Oh… yes, please."

* * *

It was a small wedding, with just Dad and Rolf's grandparents present. Then they went on expedition, staying away a good long while. Luna was sure she saw a Crumple Horned Snorkack, but Rolf was busy twirling her hair between his fingertips.

They came home when the leaves were gold and crimson, and the woodcutter's cottage looked as unchanged as ever. Not quite, there appeared to be a second story.

"That must be for the nursery," Luna mused.

"Nursery?" Rolf turned very red, but Luna was never sure she actually saw it, because he engulfed her in a warm hug. Then, he led her to _their_ door, and they walked through hand in hand.

* * *

 _A/N: Hoping it stopped short of sugar shock and instead made everyone say "aw." Drop me a line to let me know._

 _This is round three of the Iron Fic competition at the Teacher's Lounge. I've been very fortunate to get this far. Thanks to Blue Artemis, who's been my cheerleader and alpha/beta reader. Thanks also to Intervigilium for his support._


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